Some law enforcement and residents in Brevard County were astonished that three deputies were charged with driving drunk in just two days.

Another number stood out as well. Deputy Brittany Rowland blew a .23 Sunday for her blood-alcohol content test, just shy of three times Florida's legal limit of .08. The other two deputies charged this week, Ronald Collins and William Dampman, declined the tests.

"Alcohol affects people differently, but it's all serious," said Sgt. Kim Montes of the Florida Highway Patrol. "We don't want people to guess a number and assume they're fine. It's safer not to drive."

All three deputies work at the Brevard County Jail. Sheriff Wayne Ivey announced all were suspended without pay pending internal affairs reviews.

State law enhances DUI penalties for drivers with a blood-alcohol content of .15 or more, Montes said.

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All three deputies crashed their cars before they were taken into custody. Collins hit the side of a bank building in Cocoa Beach. Rowland struck a concrete divider in Titusville. And state troopers said Dampman knocked down a stop sign and crashed into a ditch in Mims.

"I'm extremely angered," Ivey said. "They put others at risk. Fortunately, no one else was involved with those accidents."

The state's legal limit is .08, but each person, based on weight, gender and tolerance to alcohol, can react differently to intoxication.

"You have people who drink every day and they can still stand up at a .30 (blood-alcohol content)," Montes said.

She is concerned that intoxication levels are rising among drivers involved in fatalities, some as much as four times the legal limit.

Collins, the deputy with the longest tenure of the three at the Sheriff's Office, joined in 2006. Rowland and Dampman each joined in 2014.

"We have 1,500 incredible members of this agency," Ivey said. "When something like this happens, it's a slap in the face to all of them that work hard to protect our agency."

Between 2013 and 2018, internal affairs reviewed 43 cases of policy violations by sheriff's deputies. Four of them involved violations for intoxication on or off duty.

In 2014, former Deputy Ryon Robello resigned before his probe was complete, according to records. Violations were sustained against deputies in the other three cases. One of those deputies was suspended without pay. Information about punishments for the other two were not available Wednesday.

There's measures in place at the Sheriff's Office to help deputies who realize they have an alcohol problem. Ivey said. There's an employee assistance program that can aid a deputy. The Sheriff's Office can also use intervention if supervisors see there's an issue, Ivey said.